Every 15 seconds, a worker dies from a work-related accident or disease across the globe, totalling no fewer than 6,300 deaths a day as a result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases, according to the International Labour Organisation, ILO. The ILO in a release in Geneva, Switzerland, said the figure was more than 2.3 million deaths per year in 317 million accidents occurring on the job annually, resulting in extended absences from work.
ILO noted that the human cost of this daily adversity is vast and the economic burden of poor occupational safety and health practices, estimated at 4 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product each year. According to the release The ILO aims to create worldwide awareness of the dimensions and consequences of work-related accidents, injuries and diseases and to place the health and safety of all workers on the international agenda and to stimulate and support practical action at all levels.
The new global estimates on work-related illnesses and injuries represent 3.94 per cent of global GDP per year, or $2.99 trillion.
In human lives that means 2.78 million workers continue to die each year from work-related injuries and illnesses – 2.4 million of these deaths can be attributed to work-related diseases alone. The figures announced were developed by Finland, Singapore, the EU and the International Commission on Occupational Health, with the support of ILO.
The new figures point to a growing body of evidence demonstrating the global cost of failing to adequately address existing and emerging occupational safety and health (OSH) concerns, and to the importance of OSH to sustainable development.
Meanwhile, speaking in Singapore, during the opening ceremony of the ongoing XXI World Congress on Safety and Health at work, ILO’s Director General Guy Ryder told nearly 3,500 participants, that the “global economic impact of the failure to adequately invest in occupational safety and health is roughly equal to the total GDP of the poorest 130 countries in the world. Clearly there is a recognition that certain OSH challenges are global challenges that require global solutions.”
Mr Ryder noted ILO’s readiness to engage in the development of a global coalition with key partners in meeting these challenges, as proposed by Finnish Minister of Labour Pirkko Mattila, in a forum on the future of work. As a co-organizer of the 2017 World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, ILO is addressing key challenges for the future of work and the implications for the safety and health of workers. During the four-day Congress the ILO will participate in symposia and technical sessions on the need for reliable OSH data, improving occupational safety and health in global supply chains, creating mechanisms for the exchange of OSH data, knowledge and expertise globally, and fostering proactive occupational safety and health compliance strategies at national level.
Engagement of youth around the world will be key to addressing these challenges.
“How the future of work is forged will, of course, have the greatest impact on this and the next generation and they must have a voice in the process including on OSH,” said Ryder in addressing Congress participants. Youth and OSH is a key theme at the XXI World Congress and central to ILO’s flagship Occupational Safety and Health-Global Action for Prevention Programme.
“Forty million youth are entering the labour market this year and they are the best-educated generation the world has ever seen. We must take advantage of this demographic dividend and unleash the potential and creativity of these young people,” said the head of the ILO.
